Search / ralph barton

Charles Haddon Chambers, 1921

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Maggie, 2023

Commissioned with funds provided by Hayley and James Baillie 2023

The Federal Leader Edmund Barton, c. 1900

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2012

Edmund Barton, c. 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Mr Barton 'Overworked', 1893

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Sir Edgar Coles, c. 1970

Gift of Coles Myer Ltd 2002. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Portrait of Sir Edgar Coles, 1962

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the family of Sir Edgar Coles 2014

Barton and Watson, 1902

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Australia (Sir Edmund Barton), 1902

Gift of Mr Ronald Walker 2001

First High Court of Australia, c. 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Ralph Heimans

The exhibition will feature some of the most significant portraits in the artist’s career to date, from early major works such as his painting of HM Queen Mary of Denmark through to his most recent.

Luis and Finn - two scruffy buddies, 2015

Observation point

As I prepared for my recent retrospective at Frederiksborg Castle, Denmark’s National Portrait Gallery, I was struck with the feeling of looking back at a visual diary of the past 30 years.

The Reverend Ralph Sutton, 1935

Gift of Reverend Ralph Sutton's daughters Arlene Howes and Megan Newman in memory of Ralph Sutton and in tribute to his wife Dorothy Sutton 2011

Gloves off (Tom Uren), 1996

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

The Architecture of Music (Vladimir Ashkenazy), 2011

Gift of Michael Crouch AC and Shanny Crouch 2017

Study "Radical Restraint: A Portrait of Michael Kirby", 1998

Gift of the artist 2001

Study "Radical Restraint: A Portrait of Michael Kirby", 1998

Gift of the artist 2001

Study "Radical Restraint: A Portrait of Michael Kirby" recto 'Head Study' and verso 'Hand Study', 1998

Gift of the artist 2001

Study "Radical Restraint: A Portrait of Michael Kirby", 1998

Gift of the artist 2001

Study "Radical Restraint: A Portrait of Michael Kirby", 1998

Gift of the artist 2001

Study "Radical Restraint: A Portrait of Michael Kirby", 1998

Gift of the artist 2001

Study "Radical Restraint: A Portrait of Michael Kirby", 1998

Gift of the artist 2001

Study "Radical Restraint: A Portrait of Michael Kirby", 1998

Gift of the artist 2001

Portrait of Professor Derek Freeman, 1996

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

Study "Radical Restraint: A Portrait of Michael Kirby", 1998

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001

Study "Radical Restraint: A Portrait of Michael Kirby", 1998

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001

Study "Radical Restraint: A Portrait of Michael Kirby", 1998

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001

Study "Radical Restraint: A Portrait of Michael Kirby", 1998

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001

Study "Radical Restraint: A Portrait of Michael Kirby", 1998

Gift of the artist 2001

Olegas Truchanas, 1971

Purchased 2005

Study "Radical Restraint: A Portrait of Michael Kirby", 1998

Gift of the artist 2001

Study "Radical Restraint: A Portrait of Michael Kirby", 1998

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001

The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG

The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG interviews the artist who painted his portrait, Ralph Heimans.

HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark

Imagination

Dr Sarah Engledow tells the story of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee portrait by Australian artist Ralph Heimans.

The painter and the princess

Michael Desmond interviews Ralph Heimans about his portrait of Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.

Radical Restraint
Justice Michael Kirby, 1998

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

Dane reign

Mette Skougaard and Thomas Lyngby bring eloquent context to Ralph Heimans’ portraits of Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark.

General Ralph Darling, Governor of New South Wales, c. 1840

Purchased 2018

In Conversation

Join us with Maggie Beer AO, cook restaurateur and businesswoman and Del Kathryn Barton, artist, in celebration of the National Portrait Gallery's most recent commissioned portrait, Maggie, 2023 by Del Kathryn Barton.

Portraits of Power: Ralph Heimans tour

Join our professional guides on this 45-minute deep dive into the work of Ralph Heimans, one of Australia’s preeminent portraitists.

Announcing... Ralph Heimans: Portraiture. Power. Influence.

In March 2024, the National Portrait Gallery will launch a major exhibition of the work of Ralph Heimans AM, the Australian artist who’s painted some of the world’s most recognisable people.

Ralph Kenke and Elmar Trefz win Digital Portraiture Award with Selfie Factory

The National Portrait Gallery is pleased to announce Mr Ralph Kenke and Mr Elmar Trefz are the winners of the Digital Portraiture Award 2017 for their submission Selfie Factory.

Caroline Barton, 2006

Maggie Beer

Our most recent commission, the portrait of Maggie Beer by Del Kathryn Barton both combines a statuesque almost devotional likeness with a spell-binding and dream-like personalised symbology of the sitter.

Unplanned arrival leads to blissful adoration

A mother’s ‘in-loveness’

Professor Ralph Blacket, 1994

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2017

Selfie Factory, 2017

Winner, DPA 2017
Mixed media installation

Digital Portraiture Award 2017

An annual event to extend traditional notions of portraiture and foster emerging artists with an interest in new technology.

Australia (The Hon. Alfred Deakin), 1908

Gift of Ronald A Walker 2009. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Portrait 42

This issue features Del Kathryn Barton, Renaissance Portraiture in New York, Australian impressionists, Nikki Toole’s Skater project, National Photographic Portrait Prize, Andrew Maccoll & Mick Fanning and more.

Audio described exhibition portraits

Audio descriptions for selected portraits from the exhibition Ralph Heimans: Portraiture. Power. Influence.

Portrait 60

Ralph Heimans on his portraits, and features on Louis Kahan, Helena Rubinstein, Judy Cassab and Tasmanian convicts.

Observation point

Del Kathryn Barton discusses ideas of portraiture through two of her own artworks.

Glorious

Glorious: A Diamond Jubilee portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is a collection-based display representing The Queen in the early and late years of her glittering sixty-year reign.

Prime Ministers

On the day before the Hon. E. G. Whitlam, AC, QC, died last month, at the great age of 98, there were seven former prime ministers of Australia still living, plus the incumbent Mr. Abbott – eight in all.

Australian Love stories

Reconnect and reflect with our new major exhibition, Australian Love Stories (in real life!) as we explore love, affection and connection in all its guises.

Suave

Charles Haddon Chambers the Australian-born playboy playwright settled permanently in London in 1880 but never lost his Australian stance when satirising the English.

Judy Davis on the set of 'Heatwave', Sydney, 1981 (printed 2000)

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001

Duchess of Cornwall and York (later Queen Mary), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Duchess of Cornwall and York (later Queen Mary), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Duchess of Cornwall and York (later Queen Mary), 1903

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Peter Roberts 2015

Self portrait at 85, 1990

Gift of the late May Ralph 2019

HV (Doc) Evatt, 1935

Gift of Elizabeth Evatt and Penelope Seidler 1998. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Portrait of Dr John Bradfield, c. 1920-1924

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the family of Dr J J C Bradfield 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Linda Burney MLA Canturbury and Rick Farley at home, Marrickville, 2003

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Clement Meadmore, c. 1978

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

The Payne family, 1888-1889

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John McPhee 2018

Margel and Tarquin, Canberra, c. 1945

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by the Ross family in memory of Noel and Enid Eliot 2014

2013-14 Acquisition Fund

This 1910 portrait of Elizabeth Sarah (Lillie) Roberts by Tom Roberts was brought into the Gallery's collection with the assistance of the Acquisition Fund in 2013.

Vanity fair

Ashleigh Wadman rediscovers the Australian characters represented with a kindly touch by the British portrait artist Leslie Ward for the society magazine Vanity Fair.

Heath Ledger, Prague, 2000 (printed 2009)

Purchased with the assistance of Alan Dodge AM 2009

Cecil Beaton

Accomplished illustrator, painter, writer and diarist, set designer and one of the most distinguished photographers of the twentieth century, Cecil Beaton is renowned for his portraits of well known faces from the worlds of fashion, literature, and film.

Finalists Announced for Digitial Portraiture Award 2017

The National Portrait Gallery is thrilled to announce nine finalists have been selected from the national call for entries for the Digital Portraiture Award 2017.

Self portrait, 1949

Gift of an anonymous donor 2007

A serious man

Alistair McGhie discusses Andrew MacColl's portrait photograph of Australian comedian Mick Molloy.

Martin Sharp, 1986

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2004
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Primed

Seventeen of Australia’s thirty prime ministers to date are represented in the contrasting sizes, moods and mediums of these portraits.

Australian Love Stories

A major new exhibition celebrating love in all its guises. Opening 20 March 2021.

Judicial portraits

Leslie Moran investigates the portraits of judges in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

Harriet Schwarzrock: spaces between movement and stillness

To celebrate the new exhibition Australian Love Stories, renowned Australian glass artist Harriet Schwarzrock has been commissioned to make a large-scale installation reflecting on the role the heart plays as our emotional centre.

Very fine and very like

When did notions of very fine and very like become separate qualities of a portrait? And what happens to 'very like' in the age of photographic portraiture?

On active service

The National Portrait Gallery has acquired an evocative depiction of soldier Peter Cosgrove by the Victorian-based painter, printmaker and sculptor Rick Amor.

Australian visit in Denmark

In April 2006 the National Portrait Gallery showcased Australian portraits at the Fredenksborg Castle in Denmark. 

Australian Visit

The exhibition will include works of art from the NPG Canberra's permanent collection with some inward loans and aims to highlight the achievements of notable Australians.

In the round

Andrew Sayers outlines the highlights of the National Portrait Gallery's display of portrait sculpture.

Past directors

Directors of the National Portrait Gallery from 1998 to today.

Giving a dam

Ensconced and meditative in crisp Tasmania, Joanna Gilmour pays tribute to passionate green advocate and photographer Olegas Truchanas.

Paper weight

Joanna Gilmour delves into a collection display that celebrates the immediacy and potency of drawing as an art form in its own right.

Portrait Donors

Some prime ministers

Sarah Engledow explores the history of the prime ministers and artists featured in the exhibition.

Adam’s Prize Apples

Pamela Gerrish Nunn explores New Zealand’s premium award for portraiture.

Little women

Joanna Gilmour looks beyond the ivory face of select portrait miniatures to reveal their sitters’ true grit.

Stubbs and the horse

One of the chief aims of George Stubbs, 1724–1806, the late Judy Egerton’s great 1984–85 exhibition at the Tate Gallery was to provide an eloquent rebuttal to Josiah Wedgwood’s famous remark of 1780: “Noboby suspects Mr Stubs [sic] of painting anything but horses & lions, or dogs & tigers.”

Duty bound

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of colonial women Lady Ellen Stirling, Eliza Darling, Lady Eliza Arthur, Elizabeth Macquarie and Lady Jane Franklin.

Written in Water

Olegas Truchanas and Peter Dombrovskis, photographers and conservationists, shared a love of photography and exploring wilderness areas of Tasmania.

No small wonder

Joanna Gilmour describes how artist Sam Leach works on a small scale to grand effect.

A man of superior attainments

Joanna Gilmour explores the life of a colonial portrait artist, writer and rogue Thomas Griffiths Wainewright.

Australia’s great internationalists

Penelope Grist explores the United Nations stories in the Gallery’s collection.

The activist A-list

Dr Sarah Engledow examines a number of figures in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery who were pioneers or substantial supporters of the seminal Australian environmental campaigns of the early 1970s and 1980s.

NPPP 2016 exhibition essay

Penny Grist, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2016 Prize.

Augustus serendipitous

The London-born son of an American painter, Augustus Earle ended up in Australia by accident in January 1825. 

A real Pratt

The death of a gentlewoman is shrouded in mystery, a well-liked governor finds love after sorrow, and two upright men become entangled in the historical record.

Christmas Island

This is my last Trumbology before, in a little more than a week from now, I pass to my successor Karen Quinlan the precious baton of the Directorship of the National Portrait Gallery.